Birds are turning to lead in the port of
Esperance in Western Australia.

In a further twist
to the history of lead contamination in the town, a study has
found the lead levels in the local bird population to be the
highest recorded anywhere in the world. The study which was
released on the June 2008 was commissioned by the Conservation
Council of Western Australia and residents in Esperance. Dr
Dunlop who co-authored the report was reported in The West
Australian newspaper as stating that ‘the alarming levels
demonstrated that lead levels in the port town were remaining in
the environment and proving difficult to remove’.

One of the birds tested was
found to have 750 mg per kilo in its feathers which Dr Dunlop described
as ‘mineable grade’. The report found that the feathers of birds
tested contained lead levels 10 to 100 times the background readings.
The lead carbonate is sticking to the bird’s feathers and when they
preen themselves they fatally consume the poisonous substance.

The export of lead carbonate, by Magellan
Metals, through the port of Esperance was stopped in March 2007 and a Parliamentary
Inquiry Report later found that 9,500 native birds had been fatally
poisoned by the company’s lead concentrate.

The report shows that the
1993 establishment of a world’s best practice clean dust free port in
Esperance is in tatters and that the clean up of the environment is
going to be a costly and difficult job. See the West Australian
newspaper article Lead
levels in Esperance birds highest in world and the Esperance
parliamentary inquiry follow-up fact sheet: Where to from Here??
written for The LEAD Group by Michelle Crisp who first reported the dead
birds to the authorities. Because all the lead carbonate ore that passed
through Esperance Port went on to Chinese ports (apparently with no
warning or news of the bird deaths), Dr Hugh Xin Xi Zhu kindly
translated Michelle’s factsheet into Chinese